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Subscription Form Click here    Independent Mails Check Mail   Archives Select Date >>> March 04, 2003 March 05, 2003 March 06, 2003 March 07, 2003     NewsRoom Hotlines 234-1-4962136 234-1-4962139 234-803-3074261 Advert Hotlines 234-1-4719288 234-803-7011218 234-802-3125563 It is the turn of North East to produce president in 2007 � Shuluwa In this concluding part of the interview started yesterday, Chief Abu King Shuluwa takes a further look at the festering crisis in Benue State. He also examines agitations for the 2007 presidency and tells Group Politics Editor, Felix Ofou that it is the turn of the North East to have a go at the number one seat. Excerpts:   Does that mean that as chief security officer, the governor cannot declare somebody wanted? Are you asking me whether the governor has the right to say somebody should be arrested? For what? Even if you are the President you only need to report the man who has committed a crime to the appropriate quarters, for them to be able to investigate or do the arrest. And the arrest rests in the hands of the security agencies. If they discover that the report given to them by you or any person is correct, then the next thing is to move and arrest the person, and try the person appropriately, according to the offence he has committed. You mentioned earlier that the winner takes all syndrome is the bane of Benue politics. It is not peculiar to Benue, it is the same all over Nigeria. The PDP government makes sure that all the appointments are given to only PDP. All contracts must be given to PDP, so what happens to other people, are they not Nigerians? And other political parties and members of those parties, are they not Nigerians? We should be able to separate party from government. The party is a vehicle to take to power, once you are in power, you rule. And you are for everybody, irrespective of their political parties. You are a member of your political party but you are also a member of the government. And that government belongs to all. We should learn to separate party from government. Once you are in government, you rule for the interest of everybody. And that is lacking in this country. If you go to the United States today, the Republicans are on seat, but the government policies that is for everybody is there. If you want housing, housing is for everybody. Not just for the Republicans. Housing is meant for everybody. Maximum security is for everybody, not just the Republicans. Government should is meant for everybody not only for the ruling political party. But in Nigeria, it is not so. Sometimes the party wants to rule, it wants to tell the government what to do because it is their member that is there. The party plays a major role because of the manifesto that it has placed before the people and if you have a government, it is expected that the manifesto is meant to serve everybody in the country, not just the party members. And when things are not going that way, everything becomes wrong. How will you assess the present government in Benue State? � I think I am not prepared to answer that question. I will answer that question at the appropriate time. The time is not yet ripe for me to look at what Akume has done in the past five years or not. But I believe at the appropriate time, we�ll be able to analyse it. I have not made up my mind to analyse, but I think I have had enough data to do so, and I have been in government for long in Benue to be able to analyse any time. Now we are watching, and I�m not just watching I think I�ve been part of this government. And in any case,� my wife is was appointed commissioner when Akume came into power. And it will not be proper for me now to sit and say this is this or that is wrong. But at the appropriate time, we�ll sit together and make some analysis. Like when you look at an organisation, you look at the budgetary performance of the organisation, what budget has been provided; you look at the income on the budgetary performance, you look at some of the variables. Then when you are settled, everybody will see you have something to give them. And say, �Look from here to here, this is supposed to be done, it is not done.� Let�s wait till the appropriate time. At that appropriate time, we�ll analyse not just Akume�s government, we�ll analyse the governments of Benue State from 1976 till date. Because I�ve been part of these governments; I have been in government in Benue from 1976 when it was created and I know virtually everything about it. Then I will be able to analyse it properly. Is it true that the PDP actually zoned the presidency to the North and to which zone? You see people who are talking about the PDP are wrong.� What we had was a gentleman�s agreement. And in every party, we may disagree on the power location. In 1999, it was agreed that the power should move to the South. And the agreement was with the South and North. And it got to the South. Now it has to come to the North. When it comes to the North, it becomes an arrangement within the north. And it is definitely when it comes to the north, that we shall determine the zone to have it. But the North-West have had their share. The Sardauna of Sokoto was from the North-West. Shagari comes from the North-West. Definitely the Middle Belt has had its own share as well. Gowon is from this zone, Babangida, Abdulsalam are also from this zone. And it is wrong for somebody to say that Middle Belt should have it and what for? Perhaps the man is not coming to terms with the reality that is in this country. Perhaps the man doesn�t know. Definitely, this thing has to go to North-East, comprising of Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Adamawa, Taraba and others. These are the North-East. Then for anybody to say that the Middle Belt or the North-Central zone should have a share of it is very wrong. Yes. Power should shift from South to the North. When it comes to the North, we will decide. They will decide where it should go. And the South-East will definitely not feature. Now we are talking about the Igbo president, but we have never talked about the Benin president. When we were seeking political solution in 1999, we didn�t say there should be a Yoruba president. We were interested in the political entity. If there should be an Igbo president, then you would have a Fulani president, then you have a Hausa president. Then what about the Nupe president? What about the Kanuri president? Nigeria is made up of more than 500 tribes. Nobody has ever come up with the precise number of tribes we have in this country. In Plateau alone, we have more than 200 tribes. Honestly, that is not what we need in this country. We have six geo-political zones and the major one is the case of power shift, which we said should be done between the North and South. When Obasanjo had his first round, we expected the Igbo to have said this thing is for the whole of us, let us have the other term. And they threw away the chance in 2003; they did not come up with a strong one voice. If they had, perhaps they would have got some support. What is your reaction to the granting of loans to Ghana and Sao Tome without approval from the National Assembly? Whatever they want to spend, even within the country, let alone outside the country, the National Assembly must be involved. Perhaps people do not know. May be the president took it up with the leadership of the National Assembly earlier; may be he sent the proposal to them and they agreed. You are familiar with the controversy as to what should be done with the oil windfall. What should be done about it?���������������������� ����������������������������������������������������� If the formula of the RMAFC had been out then this thing would not have been a problem because we have provision for reserve. You cannot spend all you have; the federation account is a zero account. All the revenue that is accruable to it we share. In our formula we provided for some money to be taken aside for emergency, which may decide to share in accordance with the formula. But now that the formula is not out we are using the old formula still. But it is my own opinion. �It has been argued that the windfall should be shared between the states and the Federal Government, but the latter is saying wait till next year. Does the Federal Government have the right to retain that money and not spend till next year? The Federal Government has said what has been budgeted is the one to be shared. That is, don�t share what is outside the budget. I am not an economist but when you see what is outside the budget you don�t touch it. It means there would be so much money: that there will be so much inflation, that is if you disturb the budget So by next year, the new budget will come in and we will take in how much money we have. The president is trying to look at it objectively. The states want the money now. When you do that most of it will go into the pocket, because it is not budgeted. The budget is� passed so that you cannot spend more than what you have in the budget.   Copyright� 2004. All Rights Reserved. Independent Newspapers Limited Block5, Plot 7D, Wempco Road, Ogba, P.M.B. 21777, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. www.independentng.com e-mail: [email protected] Designed By Powered By NigeriaNet.

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